Subtle
by dashinginconverse
Summary: Reluctantly, he could see why his best friend was so enamored with the Divas champ. Because, just maybe, he was as well. DamienKaitlyn, mentions of CodyKaitlyn, oneshot


_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own anything._

_**Summary: Reluctantly, he could see why his best friend was so enamored with the Divas champ. Because, just maybe, he was as well. DamienKaitlyn, mentions of CodyKaitlyn, oneshot**_

_Yeah, I really don't know either! I just have had this idea in my head for the longest time and wanted to get it out. Haha. Anyway! I hope that y'all enjoy this little fic of mine. And the weird pairing. It's just been in my head for some reason. And this ended up a lot more angsty than I had intended. But wow...30th fic on this account, and I am pretty proud of this fic, for whatever reason, so I really hope that everyone likes this! Thanks so much for reading!_

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**Subtle**

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Damien Sandow prided himself on being logical.

A thinker, a man of knowledge, someone who could cut through all of the excrement that riddled the WWE and provide something worth watching, someone who was worth listening to - all these things are what he strove for, the idenity he craved.

And he had succeeded, for the most part.

He had a best friend who was just as intelligent as he was, someone who could keep up with the way he turned a phrase, with the words he used, the intricate weavings of his prose. In his earlier days in the WWE, he would have never thought he would find a friend like Cody Rhodes.

Damien also thought he knew his friend like the back of his hand.

Key word: _thought_.

He wasn't sure what he thought Cody would go for, in relation to women. He had never even entertained the notion at all, really, deeming it frivolous and unimportant. Though, if he had to guess, he'd figure someone like Layla - class and poise and picture-perfect smile and a brain in her skull, unlike several of the Divas on the roster.

Well, he had been proven wrong, of course. And Damien definitely wasn't used to that.

It had started out vaguely - a comment here and there about that certain Diva, a smile and wave 'hello' where there wasn't any sort of common courtesy that warranted it - and then had culminated into full-blown conversations in the hallway. Grins and jokes and laughs. A hand pressed to her shoulder, a jubilant response to one of her witty comebacks.

It dawned on Damien slowly, but surely.

Cody Rhodes had a...a - Damien was reluctant to call it such a mundane word - _crush_ on Kaitlyn.

It had baffled him at first.

What did this particular Diva - still so green in the ring and yet immensely talented at the same time - do to gain Cody's attention?

Damien found himself coming up with lists, as if to justify to himself why she would be so fascinating to someone with an intellect like that of Cody's.

Kaitlyn was simple-minded. At least, that was how he viewed her. That was how he viewed everyone, really. She was stubborn and determined, qualities that often put her on the outs with several people. She insisted on dying her hair in that odd, two-toned way of hers. She didn't wear ring gear to wrestle in - at least, not anymore. She was more at home with a video game in her hands than any woman that Damien had ever met before.

Gradually, the reasons would come easier to him.

The Divas champ was strong and had a sense of wit about her that few of the other women of the WWE possessed. She had loyalty that was unsurpassed - except when she was betrayed, he had noticed during the whole AJ debacle. Then she would fight back with a vengeance.

Kaitlyn carried herself with such a sense of confidence that Damien supposed was attractive. She was always ready with a comeback to any of his put-downs - one time even using a word that Damien himself did not know, rendering him speechless. The word was used incorrectly, and she had pronounced it differently than he would have; however, the shock was still etched on his features as she walked away, and he found himself watching the sway of her hips as she left. _Maybe she wasn't so simple-minded after all._

She smiled like she was aware of something that others weren't. Like she was laughing at some joke and Damien couldn't understand the punchline. Her smiles weren't a rarity, like some of the others around the company. Her grins fell easily, her laid back sense of self a welcome occurrence in a place overrun by people who were the literal definition of _diva_.

After all of this careful contemplation, Damien realized there was nothing wrong with her at all. That he was actually looking forward to the moments in which Cody would stop Kaitlyn in the hall, because then he would get to interact with her without seeming out of character. That he..._enjoyed_ being around her.

He enjoyed it _far _too much.

Damien wouldn't admit it to anyone, of course. He couldn't - his pride barred him from it.

And, well, there was the matter of Cody.

Even if Damien could rid himself of his all-consuming pride, he could never do that to a comrade. He could never snatch something so important from underneath the moustache of his pal, of his confidant.

Even if it was a daily chore to not do so.

He supposed that was what led him to where he was today.

It wasn't an unusual place for him to be, standing backstage and idly turning an orange in one hand with a Bella twin occupying the other one whilst chattering away. He thought it was Brie today, but he really couldn't tell the difference most days. One had tattoos and the other didn't and he really wasn't concerned.

His mind was elsewhere.

A familiar laugh bubbled from further down the hallway. The sound of it put a pit of uneasiness deep in his gut, mingling with his entrails. It was almost enough to make him shudder.

Of course it was Kaitlyn.

Damien had parted from Cody once he had called out the woman's name. The Bella that was on his arm looked disgusted and walked away, but the Bella that plagued Damien did no such thing, lingering close to him and saying the occasional odd thing about their plans for the downfall of the Divas champ.

The Intellectual Savior of the Masses decided to risk a glance down the hallway, seeing Kaitlyn grin and throw her head back in unbridled mirth. Something he would have found unsightly months ago he now found unbelievably charming.

And he hated himself for it.

To preoccupy himself, he began to peel the orange he had stolen from one of the other Superstars' gift baskets - it could have been Kofi, he thought, but really he didn't care. His fingers digging into the tough skin of the orange was a welcome distraction, and he found the distinctive scent of citrus to be somewhat soothing.

(He chose to ignore the thought that it smelled just like Kaitlyn's signature perfume.)

After ridding the orange of its peel, he offered a section to Brie. She took it gratefully, a kind thanks from her lips as she bit into it.

The laugh again, melodious and somehow dear to him despite the fact that the owner couldn't be further from his reach. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to listen to it, memorize it like he had the lines from many of his favorite books.

Absently, Damien tore of a section from the orange and popped it into his mouth.

Again, he looked over to her, only to find that Cody and Kaitlyn were still in their conversation. She was grinning and he was rubbing the back of his neck in an uncharacteristic display of bashfulness.

"You should tell her," Brie spoke up from his side.

Damien stiffened. "What are you talking about?"

Brie shrugged her thin shoulders, a light smile overtaking her features. "You know what I'm talking about." She pressed a hand to his shoulder. "_Her_." She arched her eyebrows in the direction of the woman with the mane of two-toned hair.

A smirk overtook his features. Brie was far more perceptive than he gave her credit for, and yet he still didn't want her knowing of his..._affliction_.

"You're being ridiculous," he told her.

"About what?" Brie said - not in her confrontational way, or in the way that hinted she was being particularly mischievous, but the way that signaled she was serious. Her voice was soft, almost. Caring. "About you loving her?"

Damien snorted in a rather dignified way, he thought. The notion of that - of loving her - was ridiculous. Almost more so than the fact that -

But was it really _so _ridiculous?

He hadn't time to contemplate this, for the aforementioned woman - along with Cody - had seen him and his companion, and decided to join the two of them. For whatever reason, Damien wasn't certain.

"Hey, Gandalf," Kaitlyn greeted with a smile. The tone was playful, one that suggested a close relationship when Damien could only wish for such.

He smirked at her, making sure that it was as condescending as he could make it. "I must say, you have taken me by surprise with your knowledge of that piece of literature."

Kaitlyn grinned cheerily at him; Cody smirked.

"Of course she'd know about hobbits," Brie commented snidely, but not altogether unfriendly.

"You should, too. Seeing as you've dated enough of them," Kaitlyn shot back, smiling. It really was interesting, when the cameras were away, just how different everyone was.

Cody snickered at her wit, while Brie gave a good-natured smile. Damien ran a hand over his beard in an attempt to hide his amusement.

"Where's Nikki?" Cody asked.

"Probably off with John somewhere," Brie replied. "Wanna go find her?"

Cody shrugged. "Sure." He turned to Kaitlyn and sent a winning smile in her direction. "I'll see you later, Kait."

Kaitlyn smiled back. "Bye."

Damien watched the two of them leave, and he swore he saw Brie give him an all-knowing wink before they turned around the corner.

Stunned for a moment at the Bella's perceptiveness and cunning, Damien took a while to gather his thoughts. It was strange. He was always ready with a comment whenever needed, and yet when put in this situation it was like his thoughts were water, slipping through his searching fingers.

Kaitlyn cleared her throat.

Damien hadn't realized he was staring at her, but now it was blatantly obvious. And she had noticed. And he was certain, if he were a lesser man, that he would be flushed with embarrassment.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Didn't know if that big brain of yours finally short-circuited or not," she replied with that same cheeky grin before shrugging her shoulders.

Damien popped another piece of orange in his mouth and chewed.

Kaitlyn eyed the orange curiously, quirking a brow and then crossing her arms beneath her breasts. Damien couldn't help but notice what she was wearing - one of those midriff-bearing tops of hers that she loved so much, and a pair of skin tight jeans. He let his eyes linger on her for a bit longer than he should have and then held out the orange, eyebrows lifting in an unspoken question.

She looked at him in a manner of disbelief before ripping off a slice of the orange, their fingers brushing in the process. The very action sent a ripple of electricity down his spine. Kaitlyn ate the bit of orange, unaffected. It seemed painfully ironic, that she could have this effect on him and yet she was so indifferent to his presence.

A moment of silence, and then, "You look like you have something to say," Kaitlyn said between chews.

Damien was quiet.

"Then again, I don't know how that's different than how you usually are, but still..." Kaitlyn said, almost as if to herself. As if she were in private and these were her secret thoughts.

Of course, he did have something to say. Something that felt like it was of the utmost importance, something that he could not stamp down as easily as he had done in the past. But he had no choice. There was a great chasm between he and Kaitlyn. One that she wasn't aware of, that was certain, but one that was there nonetheless.

He wanted to tell her, but it was vital he keep it to himself.

Out of all the remarkably selfish things he'd done in his life, this was the one time where he couldn't allow himself to be.

Damien couldn't let himself indulge in what he so wanted - something that had only become clearer and clearer to him over the course of a few simple months. It was never more imperative that he banish any thoughts of fancy from his mind.

So, he leaned back on his heels just a bit, a bitter smirk twisting his lips into something cynical. His eyes never left hers as he replied to her earlier statement.

"When it comes to you, Kaitlyn, I am often speechless."

The earnestness of his words lingered in the air between him as he turned to walk away, remembering fondly the feel of her name on his tongue and the sense of loss that came with it.

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_**End. **_


End file.
